Screening Schedule
For 2026, in–person screenings will be held in four cities: San Francisco; San Jose; Little Tokyo, L.A.; and Gardena, Calif.
Each venue will host five programs, including panel discussions with filmmakers after each screening. There will be special Filmmaker Receptions after the programs in San Francisco and Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.
Tickets for individual programs can be purchased below. For the best deal, buy an All-Day Pass for access to all of the programs per venue.
San Francisco | Saturday, February 21, 2026, 11:00 am -7:30 pm
AMC Kabuki 8, 1881 Post Street, San Francisco, Japantown
San Jose | Sunday, February 22, 2026, 11:30 am – 7:15 pm
San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin, 640 N. 5th Street San Jose Japantown
Little Tokyo | Saturday, March 28, 2026, 11:00 am – 7:30 pm
Tateuchi Democracy Forum, Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave, Los Angeles
Gardena | Sunday, March 29, 2026, 11:30 am – 7:15 pm
Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute, 1964 W. 162nd Street, Gardena
Please note that all tickets are purchased through the Nichi Bei Foundation. For any questions regarding tickets, please contact the Nichi Bei Foundation at (415) 673-1009 or email info@nichibeifoundation.org.
Little Tokyo | Tateuchi Democracy Forum at Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA
LITTLE TOKYO Programs on Saturday, March 28, 2026, 11:00 am - 7:30 pm
Loyalty Questioned (11:00 am)
Artistic Interpretations (12:30 pm)
Assembly Centered (2:00 pm)
Identity Explored (4:00 pm)
Showcase Presentation: Third Act (5:30 pm)
Filmmaker Reception (7:30 pm)
Gardena Tickets
The Gardena screening of the 2026 Films of Remembrance will be held on Sunday, March 29 at the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute in Gardena, Calif. All-Day Passes, which provide discounted access to all the programs per venue, are also available.
For more information about the films and programs, including descriptions and trailers, go to the Screening Schedule page and review the detailed schedule and film guide.
GARDENA PROGRAMS on Sunday, March 29, 2026, 11:30 am -7:15 pm
Loyalty Questioned (11:30 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.)
$15 general/$12 members. Includes the films: The Most Loyal “Traitors”, by Kayla Jem Ling; and Defiant to the Last: Resistance at the Tule Lake Jail, by Emiko Omori.
Artistic Interpretations (12:55 p.m. – 2:10 p.m.)
$15 general/$12 members. Includes the films: DUST, by Glenn Mitsui; Procession, by Bruce Tetsuya; and Hello Maggie!, by Willie Ito and Tony Tarantini.
Assembly Centered (2:25 p.m. – 3:35 p.m.)
$15 general/$12 members. Includes the films: Misadventures of a Nisei Week Queen, by Evan Kodani; and Kioku: Remembrance, by Koji Lau-Ozawa and Barre Fong.
Identity Explored (3:50 p.m. – 5:10 p.m.)
$15 general/$12 members. Includes the films: Yonsei, by Rachel Michiko Whitney and Jeff Mizushima; and 9066: Fear, Football & The Theft of Freedom, by Chris Jones.
Showcase Presentation (5:25 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.)
$15 general/$12 members. Features the film: Third Act, by Tadashi Nakamura.
Remembrance is resistance to erasure at the 15th annual Films of Remembrance
NICHI BEI NEWS (February 5, 2026) -- A carefully curated selection of 10 engaging films sheds light on a little-known chapter of American history while serving as powerful lessons for today’s assaults on civil liberties.
They will screen at the 15th annual Films of Remembrance on Feb. 21-22 in Northern California’s Bay Area and March 28-29 in Southern California.
The event is the premier showcase of films commemorating the forced incarceration of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent in American concentration camps during World War II, most of whom were American citizens.
Selections range from creative animated or narrative shorts, to impactful short and feature-length documentaries, with the Showcase Presentation of the award-winning film “Third Act.”
“At a time when the history of people of color is being sanitized, and celebrations of our experiences are being erased from federal government agencies, it’s all the more important that we remember the destruction of civil liberties during World War II and its lessons for today,” said Kenji G. Taguma, executive producer of Films of Remembrance and president of its presenting organization, the Nichi Bei Foundation. “In the face of such sanitization, remembrance is resistance to erasure. We cannot let our history be marginalized again. There’s just too much at stake.”
Koji Lau-Ozawa, Ph.D., a Films of Remembrance Committee member who teaches in the Anthropology Department at UCLA, echoed that sentiment.
“In over 17 National Parks across the U.S., historical signs related to topics like slavery, Native American history, and climate change are being taken down,” said Lau-Ozawa, who also serves on the Nichi Bei Foundation board. “The Films of Remembrance program is directly standing up against this kind of historical erasure.”
“I feel that all of the films are important and relevant,” added UC San Diego Ethnic Studies Professor Christen Sasaki, Ph.D., a Films of Remembrance Committee member. “In the classroom I always tell my students that history is alive and occurring in the present. We can all learn so much about the present by learning about the past — from mass incarceration to community building and resistance.”
Films of Remembrance commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 by then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which put the wheels in motion to uproot a people.
According to California State University, Sacramento Ethnic Studies Professor Wendi Yamashita, Ph.D., such films are more important now than ever, as President Donald Trump is invoking the Enemy Aliens Act of 1798 to justify his plans for mass deportation — the very act that “was used to justify our incarceration.”
“These films are always relevant because they document an important moment in U.S. history that teaches us about the fragility of American democracy and civil rights,” explained Yamashita, a Nichi Bei Foundation board member. “Today, we are seeing the violent erasure of history by the federal government, and these films refuse that erasure. These films remember state violence and explore the lingering trauma of state violence in deeply personal and intimate ways.”
“I really loved ‘Kioku: Remembrance’ because it provided me with so much hope,” reflected Yamashita, a member of the Films of Remembrance Committee. “It was so powerful to see students of all ethnic backgrounds who were so passionate about preservation and JA incarceration history in their hometown. I also appreciated ‘Yonsei’ and ‘Misadventures of a Nisei Week Queen’ for the way it explored Japanese American girl/womanhood in relationship to incarceration and identity. I could really connect with these films.”
“I appreciate the fact that many of the filmmakers are expanding how we think about incarceration to think about its enduring impact through generations — as generational trauma but also generational healing,” added Sasaki. “One of the films that I’m particularly looking forward to seeing is Tad Nakamura’s ‘Third Act.’ Having gone through the UCLA Asian American Masters program and being a part of Asian American Studies, I’ve felt Bob (Nakamura’s) impact on the community.”
This year, thanks to Presenting Sponsorship from The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, as well as the George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, Films of Remembrance is once again expanding from a two-day event in Northern California to a four-day event including two days in Southern California — in partnership with the Japanese American National Museum and the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute.
Proceeds benefit the Wayne Maeda Educational Fund.
For tickets and more information, visit 2026.filmsofremembrance.org.
